Turning point

Late in the second quarter of a scoreless game, the Tigers faced fourth-and-3 from its 41. U-E opted to go for it and senior quarterback Devon Hogan found a huge hole on the left side for a 15-yard gain.

Hogan scrambled for 23 yards on the next play to Horseheads’ 21. Three plays later, on a designed run, Hogan started left, found a crease and scored from 11 yards. Bailey Dupuy’s extra point made it 7-0 with 1:06 left in the first half.

The Tigers then dominated the third quarter, scoring 21 points, including a touchdown run and a touchdown pass by Hogan.

Key plays

Horseheads put together a splendid drive on its opening possession, moving from its 34 to U-E’s 1. Quarterback Jack Chalk rushed for 16 yards and completed two passes for 31 yards on the drive. Chalk’s 19-yard completion to Josh Tolpa gave the Blue Raiders’ first-and-goal from the 4. Chalk’s 4-yard rush set up a fourth-and-goal from the 1.

Chalk then handed off to Gavin Elston, but U-E’s Danny Quinones was not blocked and tackled Elston for a 2-yard loss as U-E took possession on its 3.

To open the second half, U-E drove 69 yards on eight plays to take a 14-0 lead. Darrius Billingsley and Tyler Dillenbeck had 14-yard runs on the drive that was capped by Hogan’s 9-yard touchdown run.

On Horseheads’ next play from scrimmage, Ryan Sweeney made a leaping interception at Blue Raiders’ 20 to give the ball back to U-E. One play later, Brendan Cornell ran a stop-and-go and received a perfect pass from Hogan in the back of the end zone to make it 21-0.

Quotable

“We had a miscommunication on that fourth-down play,” Horseheads coach Kevin Hillman said of not converting on fourth-and-goal from the 1 on his team’s opening drive. “One of our guys didn’t get the signal, didn’t do was he supposed to do, so that created an open window for one of their guys to make the tackle. You can’t have that in that type of situation against a team this good.”

“We had to get something going offensively,” U-E coach Tommy Baleno said of going for it on fourth-and-3 from U-E’s 41 late in the first half. “I’m pretty aggressive by nature. I like to go for it. … Today, it worked in our benefit.”

Statistical leaders

Hogan carried 12 times for 183 yards and three touchdowns, the last a 57-yarder on the first play of the fourth quarter that gave U-E a 33-0 lead. Jack Thomas contributed 102 rushing on 14 carries, including a 7-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter for the Tigers. U-E’s Billingsley finished with 65 yards on the ground.

For Horseheads’ Chalk rushed for 37 yards and completed seven passes for 74 yards. Backup quarterback Cade Johnson went 2-for-4 for 107 yards and two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. Johnson’s first touchdown pass went for 90 yards. He found Corey Cantando behind U-E’s defense and hit him stride and the junior receiver did the rest. Josh Tolpa caught four passes for 52 yards and a touchdown.